Delta adds flight from New Bern airport

Delta Airlines has added a fourth departing flight at the Coastal Carolina Regional Airport in New Bern.

It is the second time this year the company has added a flight from New Bern to its Atlanta hub. It had added a third flight earlier this year.

"We like the fourth flight," said Tom Braaten, airport director. "It gives our passengers more chances to fly in and out of here and offers an opportunity to send an unaccompanied minor."

Braaten said that with advance notice Delta will make arrangements for that, a service that helps travel numbers during area summer camp season.

"These new schedules will certainly allow those going on international fights for business or pleasure more flight options," said Jim Davis, Craven County Economic Development Commission director. 

Braaten said he has no assurance that the added flight will survive capacity cuts in the fall like those he is reading about in trade magazines.

"I hope we will escape that," he said. "If our traffic numbers are good, I think we can. Summer travel so far has been pretty good, and it looks like good travel for Fourth of July, too."

 A total of 3,597 of the 10,415 passengers departing New Bern in May flew on Delta Airlines, compared to 2,425 passengers in May 2008.

The additional flight here is in stark contrast to activity at other small two-carrier airports.

The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that Dubuque Regional Airport in Iowa was told by Delta in a memo on Tuesday that it will stop service there in August.

The memo advised that the global recession, rising oil prices, and lingering effects from the H1N1 virus are behind the decision, and a Delta spokesperson attributed the pullout mostly to a weakening demand nationwide.

The Dow Jones newswire reported in early June that Delta's chief executive told employees the company would shrink its overall system by 10 percent this year as domestic seat capacity falls by about 6 percent, which was more than expected.

The airport's other regional carrier, U.S. Airways, has seven outbound daily flights to its Charlotte hub with some variations for weekends.